This patch upgrades the Steam/GOG version of One Unit Whole Blood DOSBox with EmuCR's Enhanced Community SVN Build of DOSBox, applies a ton of various fixes to long-standing problems, and adds a batch script based launcher with lots of options for launching both official games and user created mods.
ATTENTION: This does NOT include a fixed soundtrack. If you're tired of low quality OGG files that loop incorrectly, look at my other downloads for .OGG and .WAV options. Also available is a LITE version for users with slow internet and/or data limits.
I've been unhappy with official support for Blood for a long time now, and this is my attempt to rectify it like all the other launchers out there. Any launcher I've used has left a lot to be desired in my mind and I started making a menu one day to easily pick between Blood and Cryptic Passage and... uh, somehow ended up with several hundred lines worth of batch scripts that do a lot of things.
If you're using Steam/GOG version of Blood, extract into Blood folder and launch your game like normal. That's it. If it's a custom DOSBox install, make DOSBox mount your Blood folder directly to C: and run MENU.BAT.
I went with the .BAT script approach because I wanted all of the launcher options to be run from inside DOSBox so it's platform independent. The ONLY Windows specific fixes included in this patch are the SVN build of DOSBox and MOUSEWHEEL.EXE
Anyway, features:
Blood fixes/tweaks:
-(WINDOWS ONLY) Better DOSBox - EmuCR SVN build fixes CD looping, among other improvements
-(WINDOWS ONLY) Mousewheel support through the use of a compiled AutoHotKey script
-Better DOSBox config - There's not a perfect config for everybody, but all the basics are taken care of
-BLOOD.CFG with WASD controls and slope tilting turned off to improve aim with mouselook
-Improved Cryptic Passage - demo playback/startup loop, multiplayer, and console commands all work now, plus no more runtime errors - it all runs from BLOOD.EXE
-Includes BMouse for better (aka less "jerky") mouselook
-DOS32A replaces DOS4GW to improve general stablity
-Edited TILES008.ART removes Monolith watermark from user maps (unless the map has a custom TILES008.ART that includes the watermark, of course)
Launcher:
-Menu system to do most any common Blood task easily without typing commands or filenames
-Launcher stores command line options to be run EVERY time you play Blood - NOAIM, NOCD, NOPROBLEM
-Mod launcher with simple file browser allows zipped map/weapon packs with all files installed on a temporary folder mounted to B:\, preventing overwritten default art/sound files and a ridiculously cluttered Blood folder full of .BAT, .MAP, and .INI files
-Mod launcher supports BME's Map Pack; just download and extract the latest Map Pack to anywhere in the MODS folder
-Multiplayer server/client menu with support for Blood, Cryptic Passage, and any installed mods
-Browse and playback demos for Blood, Cryptic Passage, and any installed mods
-Backup/Restore feature for the brave souls who like installing mods manually to C:\
Finally, some credits:
The ONLY thing in this I created is the Launcher. If it's a menu you're in, I made it. Otherwise, these people/groups are responsible.
Ken Silverman, 3DRealms, and Monolith for working on the game and Build engine.
GoodOldGames, for putting the game up for digital distribution.
www.dukertcm.com,, for countless helpful bits of info and utilities
buildonxp.deathmask.net, I don't know if I used any of the info there making this, but great info there nonetheless
Various mod/map authors - If you want to know who made what, just open the .ZIP file and look for a .TXT file. I've included any files that were in the mod as I downloaded it from blood.freeminded.de/RTCM/wherever.
Kil3r of GOG.com forums, for posting the AutoHotKey script that enables Mousewheel support.
The Postmortem, DukeRTCM, and the Blood Wiki all have valuable contributions as general knowledge bases as well.
Boobshlt for TILES008.ART without watermark
Mark Dochtermann & SwissCM for BMOUSE
Joseph (Yossi) Gil for Terse text editor
Horst Schaeffer for NSET.COM and RANDOM.COM
Alan Bretzin for CHOOSE.EXE
ZiffDavis for CHANGE.COM
FREEDOS for DELTREE.COM
Special thanks to BME(ILMHB). None of his utilities, programs, or map packs are included with the launcher, but BME's .BAT files were used as a starting place on a LOT of included mods for me to see what needed to be added with BARF.EXE, and the .BAT for installing individual parts of NoOne's Weapon Mod 2.0 was so unchanged that I left the original credit in the menu.
